Tuesday, September 29, 2015

New Release: Paranormal Petersburg: Virginia & the Tri-Cities Area by Pamela K. Kinney

Travel to Petersburg, Virginia, and the surrounding areas of
Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Prince George, Dinwiddie, and nearby
Ettrick-Matoaca, Enon, and Chester to discover what spirits, monsters, UFOs,
and legends await the unwary. Why are the Union and Confederate spirits still
fighting the Civil War in the battlefields? Who is the lady in blue who haunts
Weston Plantation House? Learn what the phantoms at Peter Jones Trading Post
will do to keep from being photographed. Drink tea with runaway slaves still
hiding on the top floor above the Blue Willow Tea Room. Are Edgar Allan Poe and
his bride still on their honeymoon at Hiram Haines Coffee and Ale House? Why
does the Goatman stalk young lovers? Meet the ghosts of Violet Bank Museum that
greet guests at the house. Hauntingly active as they share space with the
living, the dead refuse to give up their undead residency.

The night of the investigation at The Bistro at Market and
Grove on July 12, 2014, across the street, Carol Smith, Julia Ogle, Leonard
Price, and I met in the parking lot. A full moon hovered in the sky above.

Since we weren’t supposed to go into the Bistro restaurant
until 10 p.m., we gathered our equipment and made our way over to Peter Jones
Trading Post. Our recorders already on, I turned on my ghost box and began
asking questions to see if any spirits still lingered. Carol and the other two
used their flashlights to read the posted signs for tourists about the ruin’s
history.

I asked, “Is there any spirit still here?”

A male voice came across the scanning waves. “Jacob.”

I
said, “Is Peter Jones still here?”

Peter
Jones did not reply, so I said, “Jacob? Can you talk to me?”

He
answered, “Jacob.” Two other, different male voices followed his.

“Phillip.”
“Harry.”

I
pressed, “Peter? Is Peter here?”

Nothing
from Peter Jones came across the box.

We
wandered down the street, ending up by a stone bench with bars crossing the
front. I dropped all but my ghost box on the bench.

“Jacob?
Jacob, are you one of the Confederates or Federal soldiers held prisoner here
during the Civil War?”

“Yes.”

“Tell
us anything you want us to tell us. Are you a Confederate soldier? A Union soldier?”

The
box stopped scanning. Occasionally, I found spirits could turn off the ghost
box, whether due to not wanting to talk to us or some other reason. Sometime, I
wondered if they were maybe drawing the power from the batteries and electronics.

Julia
asked: “Who was here during the War? Confederate? Federal?”

A man
with a deeper voice than the others said, “Both.”

“Was
Jacob one of the Federals or a Confederate?”

“Yes.”
That did not answer my question, just that he was a soldier.

Then
the same man’s deep voice came across the box, saying, “You must…”

I
questioned, “You must what? We must go?”

I
heard the man say, “Yes.”

I
asked if we could take picture and then we would leave them alone. I searched
in my pink bag for the camera in its soft case, but it was not inside. It had
to be still in my car, so I told my friends that I was heading back to the parking
lot to fetch it. Carol’s equipment was still in her vehicle, so we all left the
structure. (We had a freaky paranormal experience in the parking lot that you
can read about in The Bistro at Market and Grove chapter.)

What
is left of the building can be found at the corner of Old and Market

Streets
in what might be called a small park setting. It doesn’t cost to visit

and
who knows, maybe the phantom of Peter Jones or some Civil War prisoners

Pamela K. Kinney is an award winning published author of horror, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, and a ghost wrangler of nonfiction ghost books published by Schiffer Publishing. Her horror short story, “Bottled Spirits” published by Buzzymag.com was runner up for the Washington Science Fiction Association’s 2013 Small Press Award. Two of her nonfiction ghost books were nominated for Library of Virginia Awards. Her latest nonfiction ghost book published by Schiffer Publishing, Paranormal Petersburg, Virginia, and the Tri-Cities Area, will be released August 2015.

Under the pseudonym, Sapphire Phelan, she has published erotic and sweet paranormal/fantasy/science fiction romance along with a couple of erotic horror stories. Her erotic urban fantasy, Being Familiar With a Witch is a Prism 2010 Awards winner and a Epic Awards 2010 finalist. The sequel to Being Familiar With a Witch, A Familiar Tangle With Hell was released June 2011 from Phaze Books. Both eBooks were combined into one print book, The Witch and the Familiar, released April 24, 2012.

She also has done acting on stage and in films, is a Master Costumer--costuming since 1972— and she even does paranormal investigating, including for DVDs for Paranormal World Seekers, filmed by AVA Productions. She was casting director for High Mountain Films’ movie, The 19th (been an extra in the film too), and wrote a horror screenplay, “Crawlspace Creep,” now with an Indie production company.

She admits she can always be found at her desk and on her computer, writing. And yes, the house, husband, and even the cat sometimes suffer for it!